There was the most wonderful breeze today, cool and refreshing. Every now and then the breeze turned into a strong wind and would blow the pillows out of the swing. The wind chimes sang loudly and the cardinals’ crests ruffled. Eventually the breezes blew themselves out and the heat blazed, wilting my porch flowers. This is the first summer I’ve ever had to water my porch flowers every day. I think my petunias have just bloomed themselves out. Maybe it’s too much rain but they were beautiful and now they’re bedraggled. I gave them a pep talk and some Miracle Grow this morning.

Fatty the squirrel visited today. Haven’t seen him lately. He stood up in a meerkat position checking for our cats presence before he began gobbling sunflower seeds. Fatty’s shaped like a pear, his big belly poking out almost resting on his feet, his tail posed in perfect question mark. He’s rummaging around under the bird feeders with his dove friends dressed in their pink high heels.

Sunset tonight was subdued but beautiful in its rendering. As Mother Nature brushed her watercolors in soft honey across the horizon, the sun blazed a rosy red and stepped on the pageant stage dressed in a short fringed dancing dress. Father Sky, dressed casual in starched jeans, white button down collar shirt, wearing well worn, well polished Tacoma cowboy boots, took the hand of the sun and they two-stepped down the horizon turning down both the day’s heat and the day’s light. Soon as Father Sky kissed the sun goodnight, he left to wake the moon and stars. He danced with the stars, caught the moon, and swung them high into the purple night sky canvas.

As twilight called the darkness down the lightning bugs slowly woke and became twinkling stars, dancing in the evening’s gloaming. Watching the little fireflies blink I’m thinking of God and how he’s our light when we’re in darkness. “It is you who light my lamp; the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness,” Psalm 18.28. Sometimes the darkness in our lives has to be jet black before we see a pinprick of light. God’s light is hope when things get dark. We have to be still and pray, feeling our way along a path back to the light. “God will tell us the way to go, but then we have to do the walking,” Unknown.

God wants us to let him guide us on our path. He knows the way we should travel and he sees the road ahead. Psalm 139:5 reads, “You have encircled me behind and in front, And placed your hand upon me.” We have to be patient with God’s plan for our life. We have to be obedient and follow him. We’re never in complete darkness, we just have to focus on God. He will never leave us alone when we put our trust in his grace.

Lightning bugs remind us that the small things in life are what matter the most. It’s a simple thought but I think Christians can be a lightning bug for God, lightning the way for others to come to Jesus. We can be a light in someone’s darkness. One positive message, one little prick of light in the dark, can change a life. Matthew 5:16 says, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.” We can be spiritual fireflies for God and shine his light for all to see.

“If stars could transcend that pure and heavenly black, to come as God’s lights into our Earthly sphere, perhaps they would be as the firefly, a living poetry.” — Angela Abraham